Fermat's Quotes

#1. A reply to Olbers' attempt in 1816 to entice him to work on Fermat's Theorem. I confess that Fermat's Theorem as an isolated proposition has very little interest for me, because I could easily lay down a multitude of such propositions, which one could neither prove nor dispose of. []

Carl Friedrich Gauss

#2. Fermat's assertion that if n is any whole number and p any prime, then n multiplied by itself p times minus n is divisible by p.

Sylvia Nasar

#3. I realized that anything to do with Fermat's Last Theorem generates too much interest.

Andrew Wiles

#4. The proof of Fermat's Last Theorem underscores how stable mathematics is through the centuries - how mathematics is one of humanity's long continuous conversations with itself.

Barry Mazur

#5. Before beginning [to try to prove Fermat's Last Theorem] I should have to put in three years of intensive study, and I haven't that much time to squander on a probable failure.

David Hilbert

#6. When people asked hilbert why he didn't prove Fermat's Last Theorem and win the Wolfskehl Prize, he said, "Why should I kill the goose that lays the golden egg?

Constance Bowman Reid

#7. We are on the verge: Today our program proved Fermat's next-to-last theorem.

Alan Perlis

#8. I was planning to eat that, April says as Henry discovers a pudding and spoons it into his mouth with such intense concentration that I think his eyes have crossed.

Bethany Griffin

#9. Africa has lost its dream, and when people don't have a dream and don't pursue it, they flounder. People are shocked that I would move to Africa. But I say the place of greatest need is the place of greatest opportunity.

Bruce Wilkinson

#10. But it is impossible to divide a cube into two cubes, or a fourth power into fourth powers, or generally any power beyond the square into like powers; of this I have found a remarkable demonstration. This margin is too narrow to contain it.

Pierre De Fermat

#11. Alter strategies and tactics, but never your principles.

John Kessel

#12. To divide a cube into two other cubes, a fourth power, or in general any power whatever into two powers of the same denomination above the second is impossible, and I have assuredly found an admirable proof of this, but the margin is too narrow to contain it.

Pierre De Fermat

#13. I am more exempt and more distant than any man in the world.

Pierre De Fermat

#14. I'm a capitalist by conviction and profession. I believe the best economic system is one that rewards entrepreneurship and risk-taking, maximizes customer choice, uses markets to allocate scarce resources and minimizes the regulatory burden on business.

Gary Hamel

#15. Fermat said he had a proof.

Andrew Wiles

#16. I don't believe Fermat had a proof. I think he fooled himself into thinking he had a proof.

Andrew Wiles

#17. The lights of some people precede their dhikr, while the dhikr of some people precede their lights. There is the one who does (loud) dhikr so that his heart be illumined; and there is the one whose heart has been illumined and he does (silent) dhikr.

Ibn Ata Allah

#18. It is impossible to separate any power except a square into 2 powers with the same exponent. I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this, which however the margin is not large enough to contain

Pierre De Fermat

#19. Fermat wrote in the margin: "I've discovered a truly wonderful proof for this argument. Unfortunately, this margin is too narrow to contain it." Two

Peter Hoeg

#20. It may be said that the conceptions of differential quotient and
integral, which in their origin certainly go back to Archimedes,
were introduced into science by the investigations of Kepler,
Descartes, Cavalieri, Fermat and Wallis ...

Sophus Lie

#21. It cannot be denied that he has had many exceptional ideas, and that he is a highly intelligent man. For my part, however, I have always been taught to take a broad overview of things, in order to be able to deduce from them general rules, which might be applicable elsewhere.

Rene Descartes

#22. Fermat never cared to publish his investigations, but was always perfectly ready, as we see from his letters, to acquaint his friends and contemporaries with his results.

Thomas Little Heath

#23. I will share all of this with you whenever you wish.

Pierre De Fermat

#24. In the meantime, I'll get a job. I'll pay my own way."
"A job?"
"Mmm, yeah. It's that thing people do to make money.

Kelley Armstrong

#25. Monastic communities are to the great social community what the mistletoe is to the oak, what the wart is to the human body.

Victor Hugo

#26. I have found a very great number of exceedingly beautiful theorems.

Pierre De Fermat